dlb - where's the girl?
Арсений Широв / Arseny Shirov - vocals
Егор Романов / Egor Romanov - vocals
Лола Оболенская / Lola Obolenskaya (Loli) - vocals
Виктор Сабуров / Viktor Saburov (buzsquez) - DJ/producer
Tracklist:
01. Welcome to Russia
02. Havana Club
03. Ultrachocolate
04. длб х coldcloud - молоды / young
05. дэнс-машина / dance machine
06. на домашней дискотеке / at home disco
07. скётся / skits
08. смотрим телек / watch TV
09. окей / okay
10. чилл / chill
11. хрися 100% / Chrysa 100%
12. имба / imbalanced
13. шлюха / whore
14. токсик / toxic
15. сейчас или никогда / now or never
16. мясо с кровью / bloody meat
17. ещё один раз / one more time
18. кс / counter-strike
19. late night show
20. катка / letter (buzsquez remix)
21. Шлюшевый мишка / slutty bear
22. чёрные кальяны / black hookahs
I first heard dlb three years ago and they quickly became a favorite, which for me is unusual since I’m not a big rap fan (to put it mildly). However these three (plus their DJ who deserves mention) took an exciting and fresh approach to what IMO has become a dead-end in popular music. Orginally I planned to include them in my opening sets when I first launched this site, but around the same time I discovered that Loli had left the group, so I put that idea aside until I could learn more. What I did eventually find out was a huge disappointment which put me off presenting them at all. Then I realized my mistake. Given what happened, which you can read about here, it seems obvious now that Loli deserves to be heard, so in effect this program is more about her than dlb, and the choice of material reflects that.
For me, the most talented members of the group are Loli and their producer, Viktor Saburov. The others are also good, but male rappers are a dime a dozen, whereas a female rapper with the style and prescence of Loli is a rare find, which they should have realized. Instead they let one person’s jealousy ruin several years of everyone else’s hard work. At least that’s how I see it.
I’ve dealt with this sort of thing myself, although I wasn’t as heavily invested as these guys. To sum it up, I’d say dlb blew their chance to be the next Die Antwoort, but with a lot more class. All the elements were there.
To be fair, I listened to their recent release, but I can’t say I was too impressed. Saburov does a good job as usual, but IMO they rely too heavily on voice processing which I find annoying, and the absence of Loli stands out like a sore thumb. Others may have a different opinion so here’s the link and you can decide for yourselves.
A while back I said this wasn’t going to be a fanzine - that I’d just play the tunes and let people decide for themselves what they liked. In this case though, I feel a bit of context is justified. From what I can tell Loli got a raw deal, but I think dlb comes off the worst for it. The title of this program, which I got from the comment section in one of their videos, suggests exactly that. “Where’s the girl” is going to haunt them for some time to come, I would guess. Seriously, what were they thinking?
here's the girl!
here she is again!
She has a youtube channel Prosto Lolli https://www.youtube.com/@prosto_lolli/featured
I understand the reference to Die Antwoord (only w/ a lot more class). Loli sounds a lot like Yolandi on the uptempo numbers. Must admit watching some DA videos as a guilty pleasure. They were vile but entertaining like a train wreck. This Gopnik rap stuff is similar, tho much less vile. I think the humor allows me to watch, salves the conscience. Self satire makes the sordid goings-on bearable. Like you say, Loli and the music producer are the only interesting parts of
the new band.
Why did she leave? Couldn't find that story. Jealousy? It's broken up other groups before.
Looks like it's over for DA as their depraved persona has been outed as reality by their adopted children. What a surprise!